In Gmail you can perform many actions automatically. Don't manually add emails to a label (folder) or forwarding invoices to a bookkeeping software. These repetitive tasks (and many more) can be automated inside Gmail. In this chapter, I'll explain how to build these automations.
Labels in Gmail
Labels are folders in Gmail, but you can use them for automations too. In this chapter, I'll show you how to use labels to structure your inbox.
The labels I use:
- Action -> processed emails that have task that takes more than 2 minutes
- FYI / Interesting -> reference folder of things that might be interesting later or are just a 'For Your Information'
- Waiting for -> emails that are awaiting a response or tasks that are requested from others.
- The other labels are not relevant for you.
Go into the settings in Gmail to create your own labels. You can create sublabels as well.
When processing an email, add a label quickly with these 3 steps:
- Press keyboard shortcut L or select the icon (under 1)
- Search for the label, e.g. type Action'
- Press enter and the email is in the right folder
- Press keyboard shortcut E to archive the email.
- With the setting 'auto-advance' you move to the next email.
Now you've set up labels, the next step is to add emails to these folders automatically. Keep reading and I'll show you how to set up automations (with and without labels).
Practical tips from 10 years running growth teams - translated into practical tips & insights you can implement directly.
What are Gmail Filters?
Automations in Gmail are called filters. When an email fits the criteria you've set up, you can decide what to do with the email. You can manage your incoming mail using Gmail’s filters to send email to a label, or archive, delete, star, or automatically forward your mail.
Gmail Filters Ideas
Here a list of example automations:
- Filter email marketing newsletters, add to folder and skip the inbox
- Skip social media notifications
- Apply a label to email from a specific domain, e.g. *@tesla.com adds the label Tesla. Useful if you work for multiple companies.
- Split email from colleagues (internal) from any other emails
- Filter Calendar responses from Gmail, see Google support article as well.
- If an email is sent to invoices email address and it contains an attachment, skip the inbox and forward to accounting system
- If an email from person X comes in, give it a label
- If an email from anyone at company Y comes in, give it the label CLIENTNAME
- If it’s a Facebook Ad notification, archive and skip the inbox
- If I CC myself, add the label ‘waiting for’ (so I know I’m reminding myself)
- If I send an email to my ‘special’ email address (task@ewouduphof.com), add a task to my to-do system
How to create a Filter
This is an example from the Google Support article of how to set up a filter.
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Setting up a filter takes 2 steps:
- Set up a search filter
- Choose the action
Step 1: Set up a search filter
There are 2 ways to set up a filter.
Alternative 1: from inside an email
The first option is to go 'inside' and email you want to filter by selecting it from the inbox.
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Alternative 2: Use the search bar
The alternative is to use a search functionality to set up a filter.
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Beside the simple “From”, “To” and “Subject searches, you can do a lot more with search inside Gmail.
Search ideas to find emails
Play around with the different options. Use the search bar at the top of the inbox to search with these operators. It's possible to combine them.
- Subject:training
- From:elon@tesla.com
- from:amy OR from:david
- CC:me -> emails that were sent to you as a CC recipient
- in:anywhere In all folders -> helpful if you’ve set up filters. This searches everywhere, including spam and archive
Read all of them here: https://support.google.com/mail/answer/7190?hl=en
From: Filter emails sent from a specific email address
To: Filter emails sent to a specific email address
Subject: Filter emails that use a specific subject line
Has the words: Filter emails that contain specified keywords
Doesn’t have: Filter emails that don’t contain specified keywords
Has attachment: Filter emails that include an attachment
Don’t include chats: Ignore Hangouts chats when applying filters
Size: Filter emails larger or smaller than a specific size
Keep reading to see the last step to get your filter live.
Continue reading
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